To the naked eye, solids may appear perfectly still, but in reality, their constituent atoms and molecules are anything but. They rotate and vibrate, respectively defining the so-called "rotational" ...

Over the past few years, engineers and material scientists have been trying to devise new optical systems in which light particles (i.e., photons) can move freely and in useful ways, irrespective of ...

In a surprising twist, researchers have identified crystals that are symmetrical but nevertheless absorb light as if they were chiral (Science 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adr5478). The discovery ...

A team has produced a family of dendrimers that form single-crystals and can harvest non-polarized light and transform it into polarized emission. The dendrimer crystals are both optically and ...

Everything is born out of nothing. All you do is shine a light, and this whole world of time crystals emerges,” said University of Colorado Boulder physicist Ivan Smalyukh. In a field where most ...

Switching the polarization of laser light shone onto a crystal in solution determines its precise structure when it forms. The precise structure of crystals can be controlled simply by illuminating a ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...

The infiltration of liquid crystals into a stretchable photonic crystal leads to birefringent photonic crystals. The well defined regularity of so-called photonic crystals enables the control of ...

The quantum behavior of atomic vibrations excited in a crystal using light pulses has much to do with the polarization of the pulses, say materials scientists. The findings from their latest study ...